As Singapore celebrates its bicentennial anniversary since Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles discovered the little red dot, XDel looks into the history of courier services and how the local delivery industry have evolved.
The First Courier Ever…
The origins of the word “courier” comes from the Latin word “currere” which means “to run”.
The first documented organised courier service dates all the way back to Egypt in 2400 BC where runners would deliver messages carved on stone.
The First Courier Vehicles…
Delivering messages and parcels were a tedious task before the invention of engine vehicles. From camel to horses to dogs to homing pigeons, Man had to depend on four legged and winged animals to help deliver mail and packages.
With the invention of modern vehicles like cars, ships, trains and aeroplanes, mails and parcels can now be sent across the globe in as little as just one day!
When Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles Founded Singapore in 1819…
There was only a single mail office which collected and delivered the small volume of letters, handled only by 3 people. Singapore had its first Post Office in 1858 when postal and marine traffic grew.
Progress of Courier and Delivery Services in Singapore Then and Now…
| THEN | NOW |
| After Singapore gained independence in 1965, it took ownership of its own deliveries and started the Singapore Postal Service Department. | Besides Singapore’s state-owned postal and logistics organisation, senders now have a choice of using private commercial couriers to help with their local and overseas deliveries. |
| Recipients have to wait for between 3 – 5 days for local document deliveries by postal service. | From same day courier service to express courier services that range from 1.5hours to 3.5hours, XDel Singapore helped our business clients saved on waiting time with faster document deliveries. |
| To put in a delivery order and to process the delivery was a tree-killing process, as it involved writing manually on hard copy consignment notes with multiple carbon copies. One each for the various departments as well as the clients. | The introduction of information technology and the internet helped made taking delivery orders more environmentally friendly.
XDel did away with majority of hard copies consignment notes and automated the process of order taking. Customers can also self-service and put in their orders online. |
| Waiting for a delivery, be it document or parcel, can either be one filled with excitement and anticipation or one that is filled with anxiety, wondering when the delivery will take place or whether the shipment is lost in transit. | XDel Singapore sends out notification on when delivery will take place, as well as provides our customers with the tools to track the delivery in real time.
Customers can also self-service to redirect or reschedule the delivery, to suit their convenience. |
| Delivery agents are missing in action and thus unable to locate the status of the delivery. | No delivery job goes unmonitored in XDel Singapore. From the moment the job is created in our system, every process can be tracked and traced. Right down to even when it is with the delivery agent, XDel Singapore is able to locate via GPS on where your shipment is. |
The delivery scene in Singapore will continue to grow and mature alongside the nation. XDel Singapore, being one of Singapore’s most established local couriers, with close to 30 years of delivery experience locally and globally, we not only understand the different needs of our clients but we are committed to constantly innovate to come up with new and better delivery services to all our clients.
As we stepped into Singapore’s bicentennial year, we are inspired to create new milestones for Singapore’s history and for our clients’ business success. Whether you are a business looking for courier delivery partner or an eCommerce merchant looking for warehousing and last mile delivery services or a health science institution which requires time specific and special handling deliveries, speak to us today and find out how we can customize our deliveries to meet you needs.